Riggers move the crate containing the bronze statue of Rosa Parks onto a basket suspended from a crane, as it is delivered to the U.S. Capitol's Memorial Door, in Washington. Photo: Cliff Owen/Associated Press
With much fanfare, that will happen Wednesday when President Obama will attend the unveiling of a nearly 9-foot-tall, 2,700-pound statue of the woman at the center of the 1955 Montgomery bus boycott.
The civil rights movement was too complex, and its compelling figures too numerous, to give the worthy their own places in Statuary Hall. Martin Luther King Jr. is already there — though in a bust, not a full-sized statue.
Given King’s stature — without him, the movement wouldn’t have been the movement — perhaps Congress should give MLK a larger prominence at the Capitol.
But make no mistake: Parks is worthy of becoming the first black person to be honored with a statue in Statuary Hall.
While in Alabama, Parks played a pivotal role in the movement, and not only for rebelling against the Jim Crow South’s racist seating regulations.
Parks’ statue will show Capitol visitors the power that comes from the American spirit of doing the right thing for just, humane causes.
